Flanagan, in a letter to Nabors Alaska president Jim Denney, said that the dispute "threatens the industrial peace of the state" and that Nabors should work with a state-appointed mediator. He stopped short of declaring that he can force Nabors to mediate.

Unlike an arbitrator, who can issue binding decisions, a mediator only attempts to nudge the parties to a settlement.

Nabors Alaska vice president Jim Brown said his company prefers to negotiate directly with leaders of the Laborers International union and has extended an invitation to talk.

"Our view is it's not necessary," Brown said of mediation.

Union leaders said Thursday that they welcomed Flanagan's letter because they're frustrated by the lack of progress toward reaching their first labor contract with Nabors since the rig workers, called roughnecks, voted to unionize in 2000.

The roughnecks want to switch from the company's health and retirement plan to a union plan. The workers also want cost-of-living pay raises. Nabors is offering to keep its pay and benefits basically at current levels.

Kevin Dougherty, an attorney for the Laborers union, said he wasn't surprised that Nabors balked at mediation.

"We thought out of respect for the state of Alaska and the oil industry that Nabors would be willing to sit down and resolve the dispute through a peaceful means," he said.